So, my first issue is that unless I make the mists about four times as thick as they're supposed to be at the thickest, the airship'll just fly through with little problem.
The second issue is that the PCs are all level 2, so the usual Mournland horrors are either a.) on the ground, and b.) way too high level. Any suggestions?
Third, any suggestions of Mournland weirdness? I'm thinking of having the PCs make a perception check, and telling the PC who scored highest (or maybe lowest?) that they see a cottage running across the ground on chicken legs. Once he looks away, of course, it goes away. Any other suggestions?
The PC's airship gets boarded as they encounter a reenacted aerial battle between Last War ghost airships with zombie crews.
Definitely this. Make then small, and often, and net your players another level in the meantime
Or better yet, their ship turns briefly into a zombie/skeleton infested dungeon, and they have to clear it out before the ship leaves the Mournland. Then you can even give them a warm fuzzy from House Lyrander.
-Sarena
- One of the spell/s used by the PCs in a previous encounter becomes a living spell and attacks them (you can fluff a Gray Ooze).
- A group of shadowy clones that mimic each of the PCs looks and gear appear as they pass over Mournland and try to force the ship back to Korth so they can win the race.
- The airship passes near a 'cloud' of floating debris: broken soarwood beams and platforms (some of the other Race of the Eight Winds competitors?) in its center is a floating crystal (Storm Shard, MM2) blasting lightning/thunder all around. survivors and/or treasure chests still cling to the floating wood.
A bizzare space-warping effect occurs and the space between the ground and the bottom of the airship is narrowed to about a foot. Horrible monsters take this opportunity to climb aboard and attack the PCs.
This sky-eating effect seems to act almost as if instinctively seeking flying creatures (If the PCs look behind them, they'll see a smooth mountain rise up to allow a skeleton to catch a pidgeon in it's jaws) but fortunately it's reach is limited. When you judge the fight to be interesting enough, the airship escapes the area of the sky-eater's effect.
If the Mournlands are this dangerous, and it is just a small piece of Mournland they fly over, why would they even do so? Flying ships are fast, and ultimately you loose a lot of time when your ship gets heavily damaged in a fight, or worse, you get lost (remember: it is very easy to get lost in Mournland fog). The time saved by going through the Mournlands would need to be really big in my mind before any sane person would risk it ;)
Maybe a Sharn->Gatherhold->Sharn race will make a short-cut through the Mournland more tempting.
community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
(Yeah, a bit of thread necromancy.)
Happy Gaming!
It's a good eberron story altogether, too :-)
I do like the aerial battle re-enactment idea, though.....
An alternative way to create living spells I picked-up from another thread is to simply pick a monster of your choice (level approapriate and such) for purposes of obtaining stats and damage, but then change the description to appear like a living spells whose effects mimic that of the monster. Even the stats and powers of an orc can be described as follows: "A swirling colorful cloud approaches you that is illuminated from within by random flashes of light. Although the colors and lights constantly shift, the cloud seems to maintain a generally constant shape, roughly the size of a medium sized creature...."
My player's have just reached Lvl 10 and are about the embark on an expedition into the Mournland. However, they do have access to an airship, too, and this brought up couple of questions:
How HIGH is the Mournland fog? Also, I haven't found anything (yet) about the actual shape of the fog. Is it an actual wall of fog, varying in width, or is the fog shaped in a dome (which I kind remember somehow) over the Mournland?
I kinda decided to make it dome-shaped already, but I have yet to confirm, or deny it :-) Also, how high would the fog dome be? about a mile, or two?
Otherwise, back in the days, "Rope Trick" used to be a veritable way to counter the "No-Healing" aspect of the country, meaning the fog was about 100 feet high... which is a nice image but a bit... well... lame for what (me and) my players had in mind.
My players have already researched possible effects inside the Mournland and talked to a bunch of scientists, and came to the conclusion, that they could probably HALO-jump over the Mournland, by means of a "Window of Escape" installed into the captain's quarters - and I love the idea for it's bad-assery
They'd summon one or more "Tenser's Lift"s to get back up again, depending how high the dome will actually be.I always thought of the mournland fog as more like a massive wall that reaches up beyond the clouds. How high does the fog rise? My answer is, "higher than the average airship can fly." Only very rare creatures and maybe one known airship should be able to soar high enough to get over it. Perhaps there exists a custom made airship that can go that high and provides a magically protected cockpit with environmental controls to protect the crew. We're talking low Eberron orbit.
The rest of the heroic world just deals with the bad-ass effects of that terrible place. Even if you want to Monty Hall the whole thing, and let the players use Rope Trick or other "window escapes," they probably shouldn't be all that reliable. In other words, the Mournland can have a way with magic that might mess up a spell or ritual of that nature, at least every now and then. Make them roll some dice to see if the otherwise fool proof spell/ritual actually works. Remember, even in the real world, sometimes all the leading scientists can be wrong, especially the ones who have never actually been to the Mournland and lived to tell the tale.
The bottom line is that I think the Mournland is intended as a place no PC (even a paragon PC) should want to remain for an extended period. If they have to be there a long while, a peaceful refuge should be rare. I'm not saying they should be faced with a Level +8 encounter as soon as they cross the border. I just think they should feel uncomfortable and inconvenienced most of the time they are there.
But the space above the Mornland is just as dangerous as within the mist. My PC's can fly over it in an airship, but flying badness always attacks from the mists below... Always, and coming out of the mist means you can't see it until it's upon you. So it is Lyrandar policy to go around instead of over.
Also, the Airship Battle is a great encounter to have (does anyone have a write-up of this skill challenge, by the way?), and I do want to keep the Mournland a dangerous and forboding place they don't want to spend their weekends in. So, in order to get the McGuffin, they'll have to face a bunch of Mournland horrors, and I'll complicate the way back, for sure.
Still, I'd be happy to hear some more suggestions on how to deal with Airships and the Mournland.